"It's a deep state psyop. It's an arrow straight to the heart of the nuclear family and public morality. It's a digital orchiectomy. It's an info hazard. It's the chaos dragon pulling you into the void!" and it's just a picture of women drinking a milkshake.

Come on, getting a Nazi tattoo is just a regular part of growing up. We all laugh fondly at the memories of getting our first SS ink.

Right? Everybody? Right?

It's so weird that you seem to think that getting a Nazi tattoo is some quintessential part of the USMC experience.

/3 But a huge plurality, at least, of the modern GOP is of the opinion that noticing bigoted trash is more un-American and destructive than BEING bigoted trash: that dehumanizing fellow Americans based on immutable characteristics is morally superior to criticizing anyone for doing that.

/2 Also (3) We shouldn’t pretend a facile short apology weighs the same as an open call for Nazi liquidation programs.

Sure, I just don't consider "reaffirming their stupid beliefs" to be effective punishment.

And by "reality" I mean "big picture," not suggesting that street action isn't real or important.

In street action, totally. In reality, tough? That was me circa 2006 - a little edge lord who though he was a good guy but didn't understand what his beliefs and actions actually meant.

I wouldn't be a leftist now without some "good optics" reorienting my perspective.

I think that's entirely fair (and I agree 100%).

I definitely got sucked into an argument because I was that little proto-fascist who didn't understand what fascism is, and all it really took to get me out of that pipeline was (drumroll) the right optics.

I appreciate you sticking around. I still don't see the appeasement here *unless* you draw no distinction between people who are dyed-in-the-wool fascists and people who are just gullible. I think that distinction matters if you're taking a long view of how we get this kind of shit to stop.